In this RTV episode we listen as Joey Baron performs a fully improvised set.
Performance date: 04/20/2010
Episode release date: 04/20/2010
Host: Phoebe Legere
An avant-garde jazz drummer, Joey Baron has worked with an impressive list of musicians, including Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Tony Bennett, John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, Fred Frith, and Tim Berne. The groups he has led include the Down Home Group, Barondown, and Killer Joey, and he was a member of Naked City and of Masada. Joey Baron was born in 1955 in Richmond, VA. He started drumming at age 9, performing professionally the following year. His early musical education included private drum lessons as well as the wide genre radio programing of the 1960s. After finishing high school early through a special accelerated program, Mr. Baron spent time in Boston, attending the Berklee School of Music. He settled in Los Angeles, California in 1975 to realize his dream of playing with the great jazz musician, Carmen McRae, consequently becoming a sought-after singer’s drummer. Since moving to New York City in 1983, Mr. Baron has continued to expand his scope and develop his musical ideas through collaborations with various artists including Red Rodney, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Ron Carter, and John Zorn. Current projects include solo concert tours and duo concerts with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, his own band, “Killer Joey,” the John Abercrombie Quartet, and the Schulkowsky, Studer, Baron drum trio.